Smallmouth rule on Cumberland
by Curtis Niedermier
FLW PRESS RELEASE
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| Zimbabwe locks up lead with 17-02lbs of smallmouth. (Photo: FLW) |
The
road Roger Cousens had to travel to live out his dream of being a professional
bass angler in the United States included a 19-hour flight to Atlanta and a
five-hour drive to Burnside, Ky., where today, the 62-year-old International
Division qualifier from Zimbabwe took the day-one lead in the Costa FLW Series
Championship on Lake Cumberland.
To be fair, Cousens competed in
the U.S. a few times in the 1990s, but the Evinrude and Mercury outboard
technician has never fished a pro-level event with as much on the line as there
is in this one. After catching a 17-pound, 2-ounce limit that included a mix of
largemouths and smallmouths, he leads the way over California’s Robert Nakatomi
by 3 ounces.
“It
feels fantastic right now,” he says. “It’s pretty hard to believe that I’m
leading a tournament of this caliber with this number of anglers. It’s pretty
amazing.”
Cousens
says he’s a big-bass specialist, which he’s proven in his last two FLW events.
To qualify for this week’s championship, he weighed in more than 100 pounds in
three days of fishing at the FLW Zimbabwe Championship.
“I
fish for big fish back home,” Cousens says. “My game plan is not to go and
catch five little fish. I go and throw big baits, and I want to catch five big
fish. I fish a lot of tournaments back home, and it’s paid off over the years;
just going for big fish.
“A
bass is a bass,” he adds. “I brought my style of fishing from home. When I was
preparing to come here, I looked at the lake on Google Earth and spent a lot of
time studying it. I purposely did not look at any sort of fishing hints. I just
wanted to come here with a totally open mind and just do my own thing. My
practice was tough, but I caught a couple of nice fish and left the areas
immediately. As soon as I’d catch a fish I’d leave. I went back to those areas
today, and they panned out.”
Though
he caught most of his fish in one area today, Cousens says he does have a
pattern that’s working. He was able to get a couple key bites on the way back
to the ramp in the afternoon. He’s admittedly uncertain of what to expect from
Cumberland tomorrow, when wind and rain will be replaced with sunshine,
slick-calm water and temperatures that might dip below freezing in the morning,
but he’s still confident in his ability to get big bites.
It’s
something he’s been able to do consistently throughout his tournament career.
If he can keep it up for a couple more days, his career might get a really big
boost in central Kentucky.
2. Robert Nakatomi – Sacramento,
Calif. – 16 pounds, 15 ounces
Even
though he caught almost 17 pounds today and is just 3 ounces back of the lead,
Sacramento’s Robert Nakatomi says the most striking thing about his experience
thus far in Kentucky has been how nice the people are here.
Nakatomi,
who’s a landscape contractor back home, had been sleeping in his truck to keep
his expenses down. But, during his time here he actually befriended a local who
offered the young pro a place to stay.
Perhaps
getting a good night’s sleep in a warm bed was part of the Western Division
pro’s key to his success today targeting Lake Cumberland’s smallmouth bass.
To
catch his fish, Nakatomi applied a run-and-gun strategy and rotated through 20
to 30 spots.
“I
was on fish way by the dam, but never made it to the dam,” he says. “I just had
a little hunch and wanted to stop on a spot where I caught small smallmouth [in
practice]. That told me smallmouth live on that kind of bank, and then I just
kind of targeted that kind of bank.”
Nakatomi
says he’s just about as dialed on how to catch the fish as he is on where.
“It’s
the presentation, and a lot of the fish are hitting right at the boat. My two
best fish hit right at the trolling motor. I don’t know if they’re stalking it
or they’re shooting up from deep water, but for some reason, they’re hitting it
at the boat.
“It’s
going to be a way different bite [tomorrow]. I think that sun is going to
affect them a little bit.”
3. Shawn Kowal – Linn Creek, Mo.
– 15 pounds, 7 ounces
A
stiff wind really forced Shawn Kowal’s hand today, as he had to abandon the
fish he found in practice and instead camp in an area that offered a little
more protection.
It
worked out, though, obviously, as Kowal brought four largemouths and one
smallmouth to the scale for a day-one weight of 15 pounds, 7 ounces.
“I
caught some fish in practice, and I didn’t even go to those fish today,” he
says. “I just fished the conditions. I turned a lot of water, throwing a
spinnerbait, a ChatterBait and a little bit of topwater
“I
did really good this morning. As the day went on, it kind of got a little
tougher. We went deeper and caught a couple smallmouth deep but they didn’t
help me.”
Kowal
says he’s not really game-planning for a big largemouth effort. He’s just
taking what the lake will give him.
“When
it’s this low it’s going to fish really, really tough,” he says. “I’m just
trying to get some fish in the boat, to be honest with you. I was hoping to
have 10 pounds. It just so happens the bigger fish bit today. I found some
smallmouth [in practice], but the wind was blowing so hard today that I didn’t
even go fish for them because I didn’t think I could catch them.”
Tomorrow,
Kowal will probably have to change things up because of a different weather
pattern, and because his best area from today was covered in boats. He doesn’t
think the spot can take the pressure.
“I’m
hoping maybe tomorrow I can go there and maybe catch a couple and then go
somewhere else and catch the rest.”
4. Mike Casada – Stearns, Ky. –
15 pounds
Mike
Casada lives about 20 miles from the takeoff site in Burnside, and he owns a
tackle company called Cumberland Pro Lures that’s known for its casting jigs,
among other products. So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Casada finished the
day in fourth place with a solid 15-pound limit of smallmouth bass that mostly
fell for his company’s signature lure.
“I
only got to practice about three hours,” Casada says. “Tuesday afternoon I
went, and I got on a crankbait bite. I pulled in this morning, and they
wouldn’t eat the crankbait very well for me. I laid the crankbait down, picked
up a Cumberland Pro Lures Pro Caster Jig, and I never laid it down for about
two-and-a-half hours. I got eight keeper bites in about two-and-a-half hours,
then had a long lull. This afternoon, about 2:30, I caught my biggest fish.”
That
final kicker came on the crankbait, as Casada adjusted his strategy to try to
cover more water by hitting some spots that have traditionally been good for
him.
Prior
to that, Casada spent most of his time in one large area. He plans to start
there again tomorrow and try to put together another big bag of brown bass.
5. Andrew Upshaw – Tulsa, Okla. –
14 pounds, 15 ounces
The
last time Andrew Upshaw fished a tournament on a smallmouth reservoir in this
part of the country, he came away with his first FLW Tour victory. That was at
the Tour event on Cherokee Lake back in the spring.
Upshaw
won that tournament on finesse plastics. This week, he’s doing more of the
same.
“I’m
doing my kind of thing; finesse fishing is my thing,” he says. “It’s what I
feel comfortable with.
“I
like catching smallmouth, I guess,” Upshaw adds. “It was a good day. I caught
quite a few. I kind of laid off them about noon, saving some. I caught my first
limit, and I had three really good ones. I went down another bank and caught
two more good ones. At that point I just said that’s enough.”
Upshaw
says he’s fishing a “major pattern.”
“I
can go anywhere on the lake and get bit. Those couple banks I hit today just
happened to have them roll up on it, and I caught a few. Everywhere you go, the
water color kind of changes a little bit. If there’s too much wind on something
it doesn’t work as well. You kind of have to adjust based on that. Otherwise,
they’re kind of on all the same stuff.”
As
for tomorrow, Upshaw seems confident he can stay on the smallmouth bite despite
post-frontal conditions.
“I
might be able to; I might not. I’ve got a couple things going. I didn’t go to
one of the deals today where I can catch them when it’s going to be
post-frontal, but overall I think I can catch them doing the same thing,
honestly. I don’t see why it’ll change. It might get better.”
Top 10 pros
1.
Roger Cousens – Harare, Zw. – 17-2 (5)
2.
Robert Nakatomi – Sacramento, Ca. – 16-15 (5)
3.
Shawn Kowal – Linn Creek, Mo. – 15-7 (5)
4.
Mike Casada – Stearns, Ky. – 15-0 (5)
5.
Andrew Upshaw – Tulsa, Okla. – 14-15 (5)
6.
Steve Floyd – Leesburg, Ohio – 14-13 (5)
7.
Casey Scanlon – Lake Ozark, Mo. – 14-5 (5)
8.
Luke Plunkett – Pinson, Ala. – 14-5 (5)
9.
Kurt Mitchell – Milford, Del. – 14-2 (5)
10.
Michael Wooley – Booneville, Miss. – 14-1 (5)
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